Tag Archives: Lupin the Third

I thought I would never come back to writing posts like these. They never turn out to work, I spend a ton of time and effort and no one really reads them anyway. However, I really needed something, anything to write about this season that wasn’t terribly meta or utterly depressing. So here I am back again to write about the upcoming season and not a single one of you will actually read this paragraph.

The obvious caveats that go with this are numerous. If you’ve listened to any of the recent Friday Anime Podcast season preview episodes, I’m the guy who knows fuck all about studios and who has a taste worse than Kelloggs, but no one bothers anymore about saying that because I’m beyond hope. So don’t expect to be informed by any of this.

After yesterday’s rather absurd end-of-year ranking based solely on week-to-week viewing, I thought it may be best to provide a real ranking of the series that finished in the year 2012. Rather than just settle for just a simple top 10, I went over the top and just went for all 37 I completed this year. The first 27 of these will just be short descriptions of why I did, or did not like a particular series. After that, there’s a bit more detail. I hope you enjoy this, and feel free to let me know how wrong/right I was about the anime that aired in 2012 in the comments. Continue reading →

I’ve heard it said somewhere that after a while of blogging anime, you reach a point where you either hate everything or you think everything is pretty good to the point where it all gets the same score. Needless to say there were specific examples of those 2 when someone pointed that out to me and I think some of you probably know who those are, but out of respect I won’t name them.

One character I did find consistently entertaining in Nichibros

In the post Legend of the Galactic Heroes world of Lower Mid-Table I was probably heading in a world where I overrated stuff I really didn’t like and tried to find reasons to hate on anything good. This isn’t healthy because it’s pretty much denial of how you really feel about things. Do I really like Highschool DxD as much as I made it out? I think it was a good genre piece fitting of ecchi harem, but if I were to put it out against everything it really isn’t that good. Did I think Nichibros was terrible? There were some segments that dragged on-and-on, but overall it was a good situational comedy.

Then, came the week that began on the 9th when being stretched by a number of projects (Anicorpse and FAPcast) as well as getting new posts in for Apollon, Pirates, and Upotte meant there was little time to catch up on series I watched purely for entertainment. When I did, however, I was in for what was probably the best week of currently airing shows I’ve seen in at least 4 years.

The 20 fantastic episodes I got in this week were as follows:

2 episodes of Mysterious Girlfriend X

2 episodes of Sengoku Collection

2 episodes of Space Brothers

2 episodes of Sankarea

The 15th episode of Mouretsu Pirates

The 5th episode of Ozuma

The 2nd episodes of Kuroko no Basket, Natsuiro Kiseki, and the new Lupin series

The first episodes of Dusk Maiden, Nyaruko-san, Apollon, Tsuritama, Jormundgand and even Shining Hearts: Shiawase no Pan

I think many people who have seen a lot of visual media have had a certain feeling. A feeling I would describe as “I wish I could see that again as though it was the first time.” Over the last two seasons, I’ve generally ended up watching 6 or 7 currently airing shows, finished them and quickly forgot that they existed. The last really memorable one for me was Steins;Gate that really stuck around. I wasn’t expecting much out of this season either to be honest.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, big in Japan...again

Then came this week, when I felt reborn as a fan by the end. Mysterious Girlfriend X had me completely lost in the best way possible on how the relationship at the center had progressed so quickly. Sengoku Collection is the genderbent Warring States warrior series that doesn’t actually pander. Space Brothers reminds me of my childhood when I thought making it to space was but a matter of time rather than an impossible dream.

Don't worry Jigen, you'll find your place in the world

On the other side, Sankarea made me disgusted with how cruel the world can be and how people who do nothing to help those in danger can be just as bad as those committing evil. The story of Fujiko Mine served as a reminder that for certain people love really is impossible. Ozuma provides a the textbook case of how sticking to purity of ideas over all else doesn’t really work in a changing world. Jormungand shows the tragic after effects on a child who has only ever known how to kill, but he has hope.

I see Tony Taka character designs and wonder why they are still wearing clothing.

Which is where I choose to end this on a lighter note for the rest of the crop that reminded me of just how the normal can still be entertaining. Kuroko gave us the first of the legendary crop of players and for a shonen show he was surprisingly likeable, even if on a totally different level from everyone else. Natsuiro Kiseki had a fantastic chase through town involving 2 characters magically stuck together, what will they wish for next? Pirates had THAT Chiaki face. Dusk Maiden was all about Okonogi’s amazement at the vast school even if she’s not the main character. Tsuritama had the coolest grandmother ever. Apollon reminded me of discovering a new kind of music that you love for the very first time. Nyaruko-san felt like the comedy that didn’t take itself seriously at all in the best way possible. EvenBread: The Animation as I call it felt like the slice-of-life show where nothing happens that I could feel like watching.

I just had to run this pic again. It's required now for all Chiaki mentions.

That pretty much summed up one of the rare weeks where it felt like everything clicked. Has anyone else had a run of shows like that out there?